Om Shanti Om Casting
Who was cast for a role?
Who was cast for a role in Om Shanti Om?
Shah Rukh was cast as the lead; he gained six packs for a song sequence. He felt Om Shanti Om was a "happy film". Farah was advised by Malaika Arora to cast Padukone as the female lead, who was suggested by Wendell Roddick, under whom Padukone was working. She was cast without a screen test. Khan felt that she was "a beautiful, classic Indian beauty" who fit the role of an actor of the 1970s. She was excited at the prospect of working with Shah Rukh and said, "I've grown up watching [Shah Rukh] and always admired him so much. To get to work with him ... is quite wonderful. It was also fantastic that Farah showed faith in my talent and cast me opposite him."  In preparation for her role, Padukone watched several films of actresses Helen and Hema Malini to study their body language. Her character was modelled after Malini and nicknamed Dreamy Girl after her the latter's nickname as Dream Girl. Rampal was approached by both Khan amd Shah Rukh at the latter's New Years Eve party. Rampal was initially reluctant to do the role as he felt it was "too evil" for someone like him. With persuasion from Shah Rukh, he agreed. Rampal wore a mustache in the film which was suggested by Shah Rukh. Shreyas Talpade played a supporting role as the best friend of Khan's character. After the release of Iqbal (2005) and completing the filming of Dor, Talpade, who attended the same gym as Khan, was called for a narration of what would be Om Shanti Om. He agreed to do the role.  Kirron Kher, Bindu and Javed Sheikh also appear in the film. 31 Bollywood film actors appeared in cameo appearances for the song "Deewangi Deewangi". Other actors were also supposed to play cameos, including Fardeen Khan, who was arrested at Dubai airport in a drug case. Dev Anand refused as he always played lead roles in his career. Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu didn't appear in the song, despite plans to include them. Amitabh Bachchan refused due to his son's wedding, while Aamir Khan refused due to Taare Zameen Par's (2007) pending editing. Khan hsd wanted the three Khans to appear together in a film. Rekha, who appears in the song, carried out 2 days of rehearsal for it. All those who appeared for the song received gifts, including a Blackberry phone and a Tag Heuer watch. CANNOTANSWER
Shah Rukh was cast as the lead;
Om Shanti Om is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language musical romantic satirical fantasy comedy-drama film written and directed by Farah Khan and co-written by Mayur Puri and Mushtaq Shiekh. Spanning three decades, the film stars Shah Rukh Khan as Om, a junior artist in 1977 who has a crush on a secretly-married superstar, played by Deepika Padukone in her Hindi film debut. Her lover, a producer played by Arjun Rampal, kills her in a fire; Om witnesses this and dies from the injuries sustained from trying to rescue her. Reincarnated as a superstar in 2007, he seeks to avenge his love. The film also starred Shreyas Talpade, Kirron Kher, Nitesh Pandey, Yuvika Chaudhary, Asawari Joshi, Bindu Desai and Javed Sheikh feature in supporting roles, and saw cameos from many Bollywood celebrities in several sequences and songs.

Om Shanti Om was produced and presented by Shah Rukh's wife Gauri Khan under the banner Red Chillies Entertainment on a budget of 30 crore. Farah conceived the film while directing the musical Bombay Dreams (2002), which was based on the Indian film industry. After Shah Rukh rejected the first version of her next film Happy New Year, she was reminded of Om Shanti Om; the film's title derives from a similar titled popular song from the 1980 film Karz. The soundtrack album was composed by Vishal–Shekhar, with lyrics written by Javed Akhtar. The background score was performed by Sandeep Chowta. The album received positive reviews and was also commercially successful, becoming the highest-selling album of the year in India.

The film was theatrically released in India on 9 November 2007 during Diwali weekend, Om Shanti Om earned over ₹149 crore worldwide becoming the highest grossing Bollywood film of the year; it received positive reviews, with praise for the performances and the film's soundtrack and narrative. The film won several awards in major Indian film award ceremonies. At the 53rd Filmfare Awards, it received a leading 12 nominations, winning for Best Female Debut and Best Special Effects, and also won the National Film Award for Best Production Design.

Plot

1977 

Om Prakash "Omi" Makhija (Shah Rukh Khan) is a poor junior film artist living with his mother Bela Makhija (Kirron Kher) and friend Pappu Master (Shreyas Talpade) in a small Mumbai chawl. He is in love with a popular film actress Shantipriya "Shanti" Kashyap (Deepika Padukone) as he takes small acting roles in Bollywood at the R.C. Studios owned by popular film producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal). One day, during the shooting of a film, a fire breaks out on the shooting set trapping Shanti but Omi rescues her and they become friends. Days later, Omi ends up overhearing Shanti and Mukesh's conversation and is shocked to discover that they have been married for 2 years but Mukesh refuses to reveal this in public as it will ruin both their careers. Shanti reveals that she is also pregnant with Mukesh's child, leaving Omi heartbroken. One night, Omi comes to the shooting set of an upcoming film Om Shanti Om where Shanti is but he goes from there on overseeing her with Mukesh. However, Mukesh reveals to Shanti that he has decided to burn her in the shooting set as revealing his marriage and her pregnancy will ruin his career. Saying this, he puts the shooting set on fire and locks a horrified Shanti in it. When Omi spots her in the fire, he attempts to go and rescue her but is attacked by Mukesh's guards, leaving him severely injured. He is then thrown out of the shooting set by a big explosion. As it explodes with Shanti in it, Omi staggers on the road and gets hit by a car driven by actor Rajesh Kapoor (Jawed Sheikh) who is taking his pregnant wife Lovely Kapoor (Asavari Joshi) to the hospital as she is under labour. Both Omi and Lovely are hospitalised by Rajesh where Omi dies from his serious injuries while reminiscing about Shanti. However, he is reborn on the same night in the same hospital as Rajesh and Lovely's son Om Kapoor.

2007 

Om "OK" Kapoor (Shah Rukh Khan) is a popular film actor in Bollywood who lives a luxurious life and often comes across but ignores Bela Makhija (Kirron Kher) who believes him for her own son. His successful career eventually takes him to the abandoned and ruined R.C. Studios where he experiences unsettling flashbacks of his previous life. Later, when he is nominated as Filmfare Award for Best Actor, he gives the same emotional speech which he had given in his previous life. An elderly Pappu Master (Shreyas Talpade) watches him on TV and realises that he is lookalike Omi. During a party, OK remembers his previous life after he sees Mukesh "Mike" Mehra. That night, he traces Bela and Pappu to their house and has an emotional reunion with him. The three plan to avenge Shanti's murder by making Mukesh confess his crime and they audition several film actresses to find Shanti's look-alike but in vain. However, Om ends up coming across a junior film artist Sandhya "Sandy" Bansal (Deepika Padukone) who is an exact doppelgänger of Shanti. Sandy promises OK that she will try to help him according to his plan. OK convinces Mukesh to restart the shooting of Om Shanti Om on the same ruined R.C. Studios. Throughout the shooting of the film, OK and Pappu make Sandy dress as Shanti and arrange incidents to remind Mukesh of his crime and make him think that Shanti's ghost is haunting him. However, supernatural events also occur on the shooting set which disturb Mukesh, much to the confusion of OK. During the music launch of Om Shanti Om, OK performs Shanti's life story through a song which shocks Mukesh who, however, discovers that Sandy is not Shanti's ghost as her body bleeds due to a small accident. He attempts to chase her but is knocked unconscious by a falling chandelier. When he regains consciousness, Mukesh is confronted by OK but he tells him that he has discovered that Sandy is not Shanti's ghost and he taunts him that there is no proof of Shanti's murder. Sandy then reaches the scene and reveals that after the fire had burned the shooting set, Mukesh had returned to Shanti who was still alive and breathing but he buried her alive below a chandelier. She tells that Shanti's dead body will be found below the chandelier which will be a proof of her murder to the court. As both OK and Mukesh wonder how Sandy knows this, Mukesh attempts to shoot her to death but OK stops him and attacks him which results in fire breaking out on the shooting set. OK fights against Mukesh but Sandy stops him and tells him that he will die but not at his hands. She then looks at the chandelier and it falls down on Mukesh, killing him. Eventually, OK is shocked when "another Sandy" reaches the scene along with Pappu to help him. As he glances back at the one in front of him, he realises that the "Sandy" who had revealed Shanti's murder proof and had killed Mukesh was actually Shanti's ghost, and she was responsible for the supernatural events occurring on the shooting set. OK waves goodbye to Shanti who tearfully smiles at him and disappears as she finally finds peace. The film ends with all its cast and crew approaching the shooting set of Om Shanti Om and the credits roll.

Cast 
 Shah Rukh Khan as Om Makhija / Om Kapoor (dual role)
 Deepika Padukone as Shanti Kashyap / Sandy Bansal (dual role)
 Shreyas Talpade as Pappu Master
 Kirron Kher as Bela Makhija
 Arjun Rampal as Mukesh Mehra
 Javed Sheikh as Rajesh Kapoor (Om Kapoor's father)
 Asavari Joshi as Lovely Kapoor (Om Kapoor's mother)
 Nitesh Pandey as Anwar Sheikh Mohammad (Om Kapoor's assistant)
 Bindu Desai as Kamini Arora (Dolly's mother)
 Nasser Abdullah as Rajesh Kapoor's secretary
 Yuvika Chaudhary as Dolly Arora (Om Kapoor's friend)
 Shawar Ali as Himself
 Lin Laishram as Om Kapoor's friend

Cameo appearance 
 Amitabh Bachchan as Himself
 Anil Kapoor as Himself
 Jackie Shroff as Himself
 Uday Chopra as Himself
 Abhishek Bachchan as Himself
 Akshay Kumar as Himself
 Ameesha Patel as Om Kapoor's co-actress in a film at Filmfare Awards
 Dia Mirza as Om Kapoor's co-actress in a film at Filmfare Awards
 Farah Khan as the woman who makes fun of Omi when the show ends
 Feroz Khan as Himself
 Gauri Khan as Herself
 Karan Johar as Himself
 Malaika Arora as Herself
 Vishal Dadlani as the director of Mohabbat Man, a superhero film
 Manikandan Velayutham as the director of Mind It, a parody of action films
 Priya Patil as Natasha, heroine of Apahij Pyar
 Rakesh Roshan as Himself
 Rishi Kapoor as the special host of Filmfare Awards who gives the award to Om Kapoor
 Shabana Azmi as Herself
 Subhash Ghai as Himself while shooting his iconic film Karz
 Yash Chopra as Himself

Special appearance during the "Deewangi Deewangi" song (in order of appearance) 
 Rani Mukerji  
 Zayed Khan
 Vidya Balan
 Jeetendra 
 Tusshar Kapoor
 Priyanka Chopra
 Shilpa Shetty
 Dharmendra
 Shabana Azmi
 Urmila Matondkar
 Karishma Kapoor
 Arbaaz Khan
 Malaika Arora Khan
 Dino Morea
 Amrita Arora
 Juhi Chawla
 Aftab Shivdasani
 Tabu Hashmi
 Govinda Ahuja
 Mithun Chakraborty
 Kajol
 Bobby Deol
 Preity Zinta
 Rekha 
 Riteish Deshmukh
 Salman Khan
 Saif Ali Khan
 Sanjay Dutt
 Lara Dutta
 Suniel Shetty

Production

Development
In 2002, Farah Khan worked as a choreographer for the musical Bombay Dreams in London, which she felt presented a "clichéd and outdated version" of the Indian film industry. She thought that the musical would not be successful if released in India. She instead thought of a new story, writing her initial thoughts about the subject on Andrew Lloyd Webber's letterhead while staying in his house. Later in 2006, Farah began to work on her next project, which was tentatively titled Happy New Year. Amid speculations that Shah Rukh Khan would star in Happy New Year, the actor rejected the first draft of the film, upon which Farah's husband and editor Shirish Kunder reminded her of the story she had conceived while in London. Happy New Year, which was to mark Deepika Padukone's Hindi debut, was put on hiatus and revived more than 8 years later under the same title.

Farah completed writing the first script of Om Shanti Om within two weeks. She set the first half in the 1970s as she felt the Hindi films made during that period were much more influential than those made in other periods, particularly the 1980s, which she felt was a period when "the worst movies were made". She also included many references to the 1970s, which were also prevalent in films of that time. She said, "Everything in the first half is about the 70ssuch as the mother who overacts, mouthing clichéd dialogues. Then there are cabarets, badminton and other stuff popular during that era." Shah Rukh's costumes were designed by Karan Johar, while Manish Malhotra designed Padukone's costumes. The rest of the cast had their costumes designed by Sanjeev Mulchadni.

In addition to directing the film, Farah co-wrote the story with Mayur Puri and Mushtaq Shiekh. She was also the film's choreographer. Puri wrote the screenplay and dialogues. He completed the writing process in two months and rewrote the film's second half. Puri created the screenplay by writing his natural reaction to the characters as scenarios. He knew that despite being part of a crowd, junior artists do not want to be recognised as such, ruins their chances of landing a leading role in future. This was used in a sequence involving Shah Rukh and Talpade, who play junior artists. Puri blended different genres together in Om Shanti Om, which he felt was challenging. He used his personal memories from childhood for creating the 1970s. Shirish Kunder was the editor, while V. Manikandan was the cinematographer.

Sabu Cyril was the film's production designer. Sabu was first offered the Mani Ratnam-directed Guru (2007) at a time when Om Shanti Om was being planned, but ultimately chosen the latter due to his earlier commitment to Farah for her future project. Farah used two particular dialogues in the film: "When you want something badly, the whole universe conspires to give to you" and "In the end everything will be ok and if its not ok its not the end". These were used as Khan felt that it reflected her philosophy in her life. Farah stated that the film's opening scene was her most favourite in it. In 2008, Puri felt his most favourite dialogue from the ones he wrote would be the Filmfare Awards speech. The film's title derives from the eponymous song from the film  Karz (1980). Om is a Hindu mantra; Om Shanti Om roughly translates to "Peace Be With You".

The film opens with the grandeur shot of the most famous songs of Karz that is Om Shanti Om featuring Rishi Kapoor and SRK as junior artist standing in the crowd.

Casting 

Shah Rukh was cast as the lead; he gained six packs for a song sequence. He felt Om Shanti Om was a "happy film".

Farah was advised by Malaika Arora to cast Padukone as the female lead, who was suggested by Wendell Roddick, under whom Padukone was working. She was cast without a screen test. Khan felt that she was "a beautiful, classic Indian beauty" who fit the role of an actor of the 1970s. She was excited at the prospect of working with Shah Rukh and said, "I've grown up watching [Shah Rukh] and always admired him so much. To get to work with him ... is quite wonderful. It was also fantastic that Farah showed faith in my talent and cast me opposite him."

In preparation for her role, Padukone watched several films of actresses Helen and Hema Malini to study their body language. Her character was modelled after Malini and nicknamed Dreamy Girl after her the latter's nickname as Dream Girl. Rampal was approached by both Khan and Shah Rukh at the latter's New Year's Eve party. Rampal was initially reluctant to do the role as he felt it was "too evil" for someone like him. With persuasion from Shah Rukh, he agreed. Rampal wore a mustache in the film which was suggested by Shah Rukh. Shreyas Talpade played a supporting role as the best friend of Khan's character. After the release of Iqbal (2005) and completing the filming of Dor, Talpade, who attended the same gym as Khan, was called for a narration of what would be Om Shanti Om. He agreed to do the role.

Kirron Kher, Bindu and Javed Sheikh also appear in the film. 31 Bollywood film actors appeared in cameo appearances for the song "Deewangi Deewangi". Other actors were also supposed to play cameos, including Fardeen Khan, who was arrested at Dubai airport in a drug case. Dev Anand refused as he always played lead roles in his career. Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu didn't appear in the song, despite plans to include them. Amitabh Bachchan refused due to his son's wedding, while Aamir Khan refused due to Taare Zameen Pars (2007) pending editing. Khan had wanted the three Khans to appear together in a film. Rekha, who appears in the song, carried out 2 days of rehearsal for it. All those who appeared for the song received gifts, including a Blackberry phone and a Tag Heuer watch.

Principal photography
Om Shanti Om was made on a budget of ₹40 crore. The first scene to be filmed was one where Talpade's character tells Shah Rukh's character that he will be a hero; Shah Rukh was an hour late for filming. Farah was pregnant with triplets while filming and experienced difficulties while shooting, she would constantly vomit while directing the film. The film was shot entirely in sync sound; Farah dismissed rumours of Padukone's voice being dubbed. In 2015, however, Mona Ghosh Shetty admitted to have dubbed for Padukone in the film. The fake fight scene involving a stuffed tiger was inspired by a similar scene in the film Tarzan 303. Old cars owned by actors Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini were used for filming for authenticity.

A number of references to real life was also filmed, including a scene in which Om saves Shantipriya from a fire, which was a spoof of Sunil Dutt rescuing Nargis from a fire on the sets of Mother India (1957). For a shot involving a Filmfare Awards ceremony, Khan stood on the red carpet of an actual Filmfare Award ceremony and requested actors to dictate dialogues as she stated. The song "Deewangi Deewangi" was shot over a period of six days. The song "Dhoom Taana" has digitally altered guest appearances, which included Sunil Dutt from Amrapali (1966), Rajesh Khanna from Sachaa Jhutha (1970) and Jeetendra from Jay Vejay (1977). Farah wanted to film Shakira for filming a special appearance had made her commit a few days for the role. Due to the uncertainty of her dates, the idea was scrapped.

In February 2007, a filming schedule was completed in Film City. It was then reported that filming would move outdoors after Shah Rukh completed filming for Kaun Banega Crorepati. In October 2007, Abhishek Bachchan finished filming for his cameo appearance; he shot between 10 and 2 in the night for his screen time of about one and a half minutes. Filming of the last sequence and the end-credit song was done in Film City. Farah continued the tradition of featuring an end-credits song beginning with Main Hoon Na (2004).

Om Shanti Om was produced by Shah Rukh's wife Gauri Khan under their Red Chillies Entertainment banner. While Marching Ants handled the publicity design, Gauri was the presenter. Shyam Kaushal, Amar Shetty and Shah Rukh were the action directors. The film's final reel length was 4013.94 ft (1223.45 m).

Music

Initially, A. R. Rahman was signed in to compose original songs and background score for the film but he opted out after disagreements with T-Series as he wanted them to share the copyrights of music between him and the lyricist. The film score was composed by Sandeep Chowta while the original songs featured in Om Shanti Om were composed by the duo Vishal–Shekhar with lyrics by Javed Akhtar. One song was composed by Pyarelal of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo. The vocals are provided by KK, Sukhwinder Singh, Marianne, Nisha, Caralisa Monteiro, Shaan, Udit Narayan, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Rahul Saxena, Sonu Nigam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Richa Sharma, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, DJ Aqeel, DJ G, Kiran Karnath, Jackie V, Nikhil Chinapa, DJ Nawed and Zoheb. They intended the soundtrack to be a tribute to the music of the 1960s and 1970s, while appealing to newer audiences at the same time. Trade reports predicted the album to be commercially successful. The soundtrack album of Om Shanti Om was released on 15 August 2007 on CD.

Pyarelal of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo guest composed the title Dhoom Taana. He had stopped composing after the death of his partner Laxmikant, but after Farah Khan requested a song as tribute to the music of the 70s and the 80s, he agreed at the insistence of his wife and daughter. The song was recorded with a 150-member-orchestra and traditional instruments like drums, tabla, dholak and dafli, a trademark of Laxmikant-Pyarelal. He used more than 40 different percussion instruments.

In a soundtrack review, Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama gave it four stars out of five and opines, "Om Shanti Om is easily one of the most complete scores by Vishal-Shekhar and Javed Akhtar." Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com also gave it four stars out of five, applauding the tracks but criticised the "Dark Side" mix. She concludes her review by writing, "Om Shanti Om is an out-and-out musical that captivates with its roaring polyphony and unabashed drama." Aakash Gandhi of Planet Bollywood gave a rating of 8.5 stars out of 10 and writes, "not only have [Vishal–Shekhar] proven themselves in terms of musical ingenuity and quality, they have shown us the confidence, the poise, and the ability to step up to the plate and hit a grand-slam when they’re called upon to do so." He further gave them a "standing ovation". Writing for AllMusic, Bhaskar Gupta gave the album 4.5 stars out of five and praises the composers, writing, "Vishal-Shekhar finally delivered a soundtrack that could be deemed their signature offering."

Vishal–Shekhar was nominated for the Best Music Director at the 53rd Filmfare Awards, Producers Guild Awards 2008 and Zee Cine Awards 2008, winning for Best Composer at the 2nd Asian Film Awards. Vishal Dadlani was alone nominated for Best Lyrics for "Ajab Si" at the Filmfare and Producers Film Guild award ceremonies. Akhtar was nominated for Best Lyrics at the Filmfare and Zee Cine awards, winning at the 9th IIFA Awards for "Main Agar Kahoon". It was the highest-selling music album of the year in India, with sales of around 2 million units.

Release
Om Shanti Om created a record of sorts by going in for an unheard of 2000 prints (worldwide) release. This was the highest number of prints (including digital) for any Indian movie at the time of its release. Om Shanti Om set another record for registered pre-advance booking of 18,000 tickets in a chain of theatres in Delhi a few days before the advance booking was to start. A special screening was conducted for Bollywood actors. Red Chillies Entertainment had reportedly sold the world rights for the film to Eros International for an amount between Rs. 720–750 million. Baba Films, a production and distribution company, had offered a record Rs. 110 million for the rights to the Mumbai Circuit, surpassing the highest amount ever paid for the territory. As a marketing strategy, Amul advertised Shah Rukh.

Nina Davuluri's talent for Miss America 2014 was a Hindi Film fusion dance choreographed by Nakul Dev Mahajan and performed to Dhoom Taana. It was the first time Hindi Film ever appeared on the Miss America stage and Davuluri is the first Indian American to win the competition. Om Shanti Om was remade into a Japanese musical titled Oomu Shanti Oumu. A book, titled The Making of Om Shanti Om written by Mushtaq Sheikh, was released after the release of the film. The book gives an insight into the production and happenings behind the camera of the film.

Controversy
One of the leading actors of the film, Manoj Kumar planned to sue the makers of Om Shanti Om for showing his body double in bad taste. Kumar added, "Are the Mumbai police so stupid that they can't recognise Manoj Kumar and lathicharge him in the '70s when he was a star?". Kumar also alleged that Shahrukh Khan is communal. Later, in a press conference, Shahrukh Khan and director Farah Khan accepted their mistake and apologised for the matter. Farah Khan even offered to cut the scene which Manoj Kumar felt was hurtful, but Kumar refused on grounds that, as Farah had stated, "I [Farah Khan] am like his daughter. He said, 'Betiyaan maafi nahi maangti' (Daughters don't ask for forgiveness). I told him that he could've called me and scolded me." Later, Kumar said that though this incident was hurtful to him, he wishes to forgive, ignore, and move on, saying that he prefers to "see Ram in everyone and ignore the Ravana."

In 2008, before the film's television premiere on Sony TV, Manoj Kumar filed for a stay on the television release, at civil court in Mumbai. On 8 August 2008, he won permanent injunction on the scenes in Om Shanti Om that lampooned him. The court ordered the producers and Sony Entertainment Television, to edit the Manoj Kumar look-alike scenes before showing the film on the channel on 10 August 2008. It also ordered that the film could not be shown in any media—TV, DVD or Internet—without the scene being deleted.

Plagiarism allegations
On 7 August 2008, before its television release, scriptwriter Ajay Monga moved the Bombay High Court alleging that the basic storyline of the film was lifted from a film script he had emailed to Shah Rukh Khan in 2006. According to the petition, "Monga, along with one more writer Hemant Hegde, had registered the script with the Cine Writers Association (CWA) in September 2005. In January 2008, Cine Writers Association (CWA) rejected Monga's appeal at a special Executive Committee meeting. Thereafter, he approached the court to stay the film's screening on television. Though, on 6 August the court rejected Monga's plea for seeking a stay on the television telecast, it directed all the respondents including Shahrukh Khan, Farah Khan, Red Chillies Entertainment, Gauri Khan (director Red Chillies) and film's co-writer Mushtaq Sheikh, to file their say by the next hearing on 29 September 2008. In November 2008, the Film Writers' association sent a communication to Red Chillies and Ajay Monga that it had found similarities in Om Shanti Om and Monga's script. The similarities were more than mere coincidences according to Sooni Taraporewala who chaired a special committee that has investigated the case on behalf of the Film Writers' association.

Another allegation of plagiarism came from Rinki Bhattacharya, daughter of late Bimal Roy, who directed Madhumati (1958). She threatened legal action against Red Chillies Entertainment and the producer-director of Om Shanti Om, as she felt that the film's second half was similar to Madhumati, also a rebirth saga.

Reception

Critical response

India
Om Shanti Om was received positively by Indian film critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it four stars out of five and writes, "Om Shanti Om is Bollywood masala in its truest form and also, at its best" but notes, "the second half could've been crisper". Khalid Mohamed of Hindustan Times gave the film four stars out of five and appreciated the performances, observing how Rampal is "consistently first-rate as the suave villain" while Padukone is "fantastic, so surprisingly assured that you marvel at her poised debut". He notes that "the enterprise belongs to Shah Rukh Khan, who tackles comedy, high drama and action with his signature stylespontaneous and intuitively intelligent. Six-pack or no-packs, he's the entertainer of the year in this valentine to the movies."

Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India gave the film three and a half stars out of five and writes, "Farah Khan's re-birth saga literally makes an art of retro and paints the seventies pop culture in Andy Warholish strokes". She called it an "unabashed tribute" to Karz. Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave it three and a half stars out of five and applauded the performances of Shah Rukh, Padukone and Talpade. He writes, "Om Shanti Om is an exultant, heady, joyous film reveling in Bollywood, and as at most parties where the bubbly flows free, there is much silly giggling and tremendous immaturity." He criticised the dialogues and excessive cameos in the film.

Rajeev Masand of CNN-News18 gave the film three stars out of five and writes, "Unpretentious and completely transparent in its intentions, Om Shanti Om is an entertainer in the true sense of the word, mixing up genre elements like comedy, drama, action and emotion to create a heady broth of Manmohan Desai-style exaggerated entertainment." He compliments the dialogues "which so cleverly incorporates Bollywood's oldest clichés into these characters' everyday parlance." A commentator for Indo-Asian News Service felt that Shah Rukh's acting was repetitive and writes, "He needs to curtail his unwarranted superstar mannerisms even in a total masala film like Om Shanti Om", while complimenting the performances of Padukone, Rampal and Talpade.

Sudish Kamnath of The Hindu stated that the film is "an unabashed celebration of willing suspension of disbelief, calling it a "light-hearted tribute to Hindi cinema the way we know it and love it". He praised the performances of Shah Rukh, Padukone and Talpade, while criticising Rampal and Kher. He also praised the various spoofs, especially the ones directed at Manoj Kumar, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Abhishek Bachchan. Writing for SantaBanta.com, Subhash K. Jha gave it one star out of five and criticised the spoofs "which keeps swinging from homage to imitation with infuriating artifice", writing, "The mood is one of patronizing and condescension rather than genuine admiration for an era that's gone with the wind".

Overseas
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Om Shanti Om holds an approval rating of 76%, based on 17 reviews with an average score of 7.21/10. Tajpal Rathore of BBC gave it 4 out of 5 stars as well and stated, "Both a homage to and parody of Hindi Films, this cinematic feast delivered straight from the heart of the film industry will have you glued to your seats till the end." Mark Medley of National Post gave 3 stars and stated, "The film is a mess for all the right reasons; elements of comedy, drama, romance, action and the supernatural are packed in. But really, the plot is just a vehicle to get from one song-and-dance number to the next." AOL gave the film 3 out of 5 stars stating, "The movie consists of all the elements that are essentially called the 'navratnas' of Indian cinema – from joy to grief to romance to revenge. And she mixes these well to cook up a potboiler, which is sure to be a runaway hit."

Box office
Om Shanti Om opened across 878 cinemas in 2000 prints worldwide. The film's net gross (after deducting entertainment tax) was  in India. The film collected US$2.78 million in the United Kingdom, US$3.6 million in North America and US$3.7 million collectively from the rest of the world, which resulted in total overseas collections of $10,080,000, the 4th largest of all time as of 2010. As a result of these collections, a worldwide gross of   was accumulated.

Awards and nominations

Further reading

Footnotes

References

External links

 
 
 
 
 

Red Chillies Entertainment films
2007 films
Indian films
2000s Hindi-language films
Films about reincarnation
Indian ghost films
Paranormal films
Films directed by Farah Khan
Films involved in plagiarism controversies
Films about actors
Films scored by Vishal–Shekhar
Films whose production designer won the Best Production Design National Film Award
Films about Bollywood
Cultural depictions of actors
Cultural depictions of Rajesh Khanna
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series that debuted in broadcast syndication on September 28, 1987. The series lasted for seven seasons until 1994, and was followed by four movies which were released between 1994 and 2002. The series was a follow-up to the original Star Trek series which was broadcast on NBC between 1966 and 1969, with characters from the original series appearing in The Next Generation on several occasions; a crossover movie titled Star Trek Generations was also released. The Next Generation was developed by creator Gene Roddenberry, who served as an executive producer until his death in 1991, along with Maurice Hurley, Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor. The series was filmed primarily on the Paramount Studios lot in Los Angeles, California.

Preliminary casting began during March 1987, and the main cast was announced on May 15. The initial press release highlighted the casting of LeVar Burton, known for appearing in the miniseries Roots, as Geordi La Forge. Burton had auditioned for the role following a suggestion from executive producer Robert H. Justman, who had previously worked with him on a television movie. The only other two members of the cast mentioned were Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard and Jonathan Frakes as William Riker. Stewart was cast in the lead role after being spotted by Justman at a dramatic reading at the University of California, Los Angeles. However, the series' creator, Roddenberry, wanted a French actor and was considering the role of Data for Stewart. Both Justman and Berman campaigned for Stewart to have the role of Captain Picard, and Roddenberry relented. Frakes became Roddenberry's favorite for the role of Riker after the actor went through seven auditions for the role.

The producers sought a black actor to portray Worf, as it would make the Klingon make-up easier. Michael Dorn was cast due to his theater training and the lack of a "street-accent". The character was intended to appear in seven of the first thirteen episodes, but after Dorn's performance in the pilot "Encounter at Farpoint", this was expanded to a series regular. Roddenberry's intention for the casting of the new series was to avoid using characters similar to those that appeared in The Original Series. However, some of the elements of the characters of Riker and Deanna Troi were modeled on the characters of William Decker and Ilia, who were originally conceived for the unfilmed Star Trek: Phase II and later appeared in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. During casting, the role of Troi was originally assigned to Denise Crosby, with Marina Sirtis cast as Security Chief Macha Hernandez. Roddenberry believed that Sirtis would be better in the role of Troi and switched the two actresses; Crosby was cast as a modified version of the security chief, called Tasha Yar. Several candidates for the main roles were later cast in guest or recurring roles, including Eric Menyuk, who was second choice for the role of Data, and Rosalind Chao, who was originally considered for Tasha Yar. Tim Russ, who was considered for the role of Geordi La Forge, had a guest role on the series and would later be cast in main cast of Star Trek: Voyager as Tuvok.

Crosby left the series before the end of the first season, while Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher was dropped after season one. Diana Muldaur joined the cast as Katherine Pulaski to replace McFadden but declined a place in the main cast list, instead receiving a "Special Appearance By" credit on the episodes where she appeared. Muldaur left after only one season and McFadden returned in season three. Crosby reprised the role of Yar in the season three episode "Yesterday's Enterprise", and returned for several more episodes as Yar's half Romulan daughter Sela. Wil Wheaton left the main cast during season four, but returned for a number of episodes in season five as well as a final appearance in season seven.

Several actors were cast in roles which recurred throughout the seven seasons on television and into the four feature films. Majel Barrett, referred to as "The First Lady of Star Trek" due to her marriage with Roddenberry, appeared both as the voice of Starfleet computers and as Lwaxana Troi. The part of Lwaxana was specifically created for her. She had appeared in The Original Series and two Star Trek films as Christine Chapel, and as Number One in the original pilot "The Cage". John de Lancie was cast as Q despite missing his first audition as it conflicted with a play he was in at the time. A second audition was arranged, where de Lancie impressed Roddenberry, who told him that "You make my words sound better than they are." Colm Meaney was originally cast as an unnamed Ensign in "Encounter at Farpoint", but was subsequently cast as the Transporter Chief Miles O'Brien, appearing in 52 episodes in that role. Whoopi Goldberg approached the producers and asked for a role in the series, resulting in Roddenberry writing her the role of Guinan. She credits Nichelle Nichols as Uhura in The Original Series as inspiring her, saying "when I was nine years old Star Trek came on, I looked at it and I went screaming through the house, 'Come here, mom, everybody, come quick, come quick, there's a black lady on television and she ain't no maid!' I knew right then and there I could be anything I wanted to be." She made her first appearance in the second season episode "The Child" and went on to appear in a total of 28 episodes plus both Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: Nemesis.

Cast
  = Main cast (credited) 
  = Recurring cast (4+)
  = Guest cast (1-3)
Note

Alexander was played by Jon Steuer for one episode of Season 4.

See also

 List of Star Trek: The Original Series cast members
 List of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine cast members
 List of Star Trek: Voyager cast members
 List of Star Trek: Enterprise cast members
 List of Star Trek: Discovery cast members

References

Citations

Bibliography

 
 

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Cast
cast of Next Generation Baykali Ganambarr (born 30 August 1994) is an Australian actor and dancer. He  received the 2018 Marcello Mastroianni Award for his role in The Nightingale and was nominated for the 2019 AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the same role. He was nominated for the 2021 AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in The Furnace.

After posting Youtube videos of himself dancing he joined Djuki Mala. While still with the group he was cast in The Nightingale which was his first acting role. In the film, which was released in August 2019, he played an Aboriginal tracker named Billy. 

Ganambarr's older sister Rarriwuy Hick is an actress who appears in Cleverman.

References

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/qa-baykali-ganambarr-actor-dancer-25/news-story/2793fa1f089c290fcc3440ee051d9369

External links
 

Living people
Australian male film actors
Indigenous Australian male actors
Marcello Mastroianni Award winners
1994 births